Do not fret, dear blog readers. It’ll be over soon, self promises. Judging by the book’s overall thickness, she only has about 1/4 of Treasure Island left to read. If you are getting sick-and-tired of pirate tropes, rest assured: in a few days, there will be no more pirate tropes. Instead, there will be epic Homerian Odyssey tropes. Because the next book on her reading list is Emily Wilson’s 2017 translation of The Odyssey.

pp. 174 – 175, Chapter XXV, I Strike the Jolly Roger:

There were the two watchmen, sure enough: red-cap on his back, as stiff as a handspike, with his arms stretched out like those of a crucifix, and his teeth showing through his open lips; Israel Hands propped against the bulwarks, his chin on his chest, his hands lying open before him on the deck, his face as white, under its tan, as a tallow candle.

Stevenson doesn’t come right out and say it, but . . . is this the last we’ll get to see of seaman Hands?